Arbitrary detention/possible prisoners of conscience/risk of torture or ill-treatment
Fekadu Negeri (m), teacher, Ethiopian Human Rights Council local official
Ibsa Wake (m), lawyer, Ethiopian Human Rights Council local official
Tesfa Burayu (m), teacher, Ethiopian Human Rights Council local official
Abraham Likasa (m)
Jeregna Keba (m), student
Osman Dawer (m), student
Tamrat Tadesse (m), student
Workneh Dinsa (m), teacher
The eight men named above were arrested on 23 August, on suspicion of links with the armed opposition
group Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). They are held in the police station in the western town of Nekemte, and
they are at risk of torture or ill-treatment. Amnesty International believes they may be prisoners of conscience.
Fekadu Negeri, Ibsa Wake and Tesfa Burayu are executive committee members of the regional office of the
Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) in Nekemte town, Oromia Region. They were arrested together
with 12 other people, seven of whom have been released without charge. Police searched their homes but
reportedly found nothing. By law they should have been taken to court within 48 hours of arrest, but this was
not done until 3 September. After a court hearing that day, they were remanded in custody until 6 September
and then remanded again until 13 September for investigation into suspected links with the OLF.
Amnesty International believes the three EHRCO officials, who had been arrested previously but released
without charge, may be prisoners of conscience detained on account of their work in defence of human
rights. They have been allowed visits from their families. The six others may have been arrested arbitrarily in
the course of the anti-OLF security operations which are underway in parts of the Oromia Region with many
other arrests.
Amnesty International fears the eight men may be detained for a prolonged period without trial or subjected
to an unfair trial.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Thousands of members of the Oromo ethnic group (or “nationality”) have been detained, and many of them
tortured, in recent years on suspicion of links with the OLF, for example for allegedly distributing pro-OLF
leaflets, fundraising or possession of weapons. The OLF, which is based in Eritrea, has been fighting the
government since 1992. Among the detainees have been prisoners of conscience who have not advocated
armed opposition or support for the OLF, such as leaders of the Mecha Tulema Association, a longestablished
and officially-registered Oromo community group, who were released from three years’ detention
in early 2007. (For details see UA 180/04, AFR 25/011/2004, 28 September 2004 and updates.)
Several investigation staff and local committee officials of EHRCO, the leading independent human rights
organization in Ethiopia, were arrested in 2005 after election protests and detained without charge for
several weeks.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your
own language:
– expressing concern at the arrests in Nekemte on 23 August of three regional officials of the Ethiopian
Human Rights Council, Fekadu Negeri, Ibsa Wake and Tesfa Burayu, who may be prisoners of conscience
detained solely for their peaceful work in defence of human rights;
– expressing concern also for Abraham Likasa, Jeregna Keba, Osman Dawer, Tamrat Tadesse and Workneh
Dinsa, who were arrested at the same time on suspicion of links with the Oromo Liberation Front;
– calling on the authorities to allow them regular access to their families and legal representatives, and any
medical treatment they may require;
– asking for assurances that they are being treated humanely in custody;
– calling on the authorities to release them if they are not to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence
and given a prompt and fair trial.
APPEALS TO:
Minister of Justice
Mr Assefa Kesito, Ministry of Justice, PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 5517775
+251 11 5520874
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear Minister
Federal Commissioner of Police
Mr Workneh Gebeyehu, Federal Police Commission, Ministry of Federal Affairs
PO Box 5068, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Salutation: Dear Commissioner
The official Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
Ambassador Dr Kassa Gebreheywot, Chief Commissioner, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
PO Box 1165, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 618 0041
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear Chief Commissioner
and to diplomatic representatives of Ethiopia accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if
sending appeals after 18 October 2007.
Group Offers to Help City Develop an Effective, Humane Programme to Control Strays
For Immediate Release:
6 September 2007
Contact:
Teresa Chagrin 1-757-622-7382
Addis Ababa – Today, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) — the world’s largest animal rights
organisation, with more than 1.6 million members and supporters — sent an urgent letter to Addis Ababa Mayor Ato Berhanu Deressa urging him to cancel plans to poison tens of thousands of stray dogs in the city in advance of Ethiopia’s celebration of the Coptic millennium next week. In the letter, PETA points out that the plan — in response to a perceived rabies threat – is both cruel and dangerous, and the group offers to assist with the humane euthanasia of the city’s stray dogs.
Authorities intend to use as bait meat laced with strychnine, a powerful poison that causes intense pain
and severe convulsions — which sometimes last for hours — before causing death by asphyxiation. The
ill-conceived plan would also result in the unintentional and agonising deaths of countless other animals, including birds and mammals who might feed on the poisoned dog carcasses.
PETA is offering to help Addis Ababa establish a full-service animal shelter that includes a programme
of compassionate euthanasia by injections of sodium pentobarbital, which — according to the American
Veterinary Medical Association, the leading authority on the subject — is the most humane way to euthanise
animals. Animal population experts agree that laws mandating that all owned animals be sterilised to
prevent unwanted births — coupled with full-service animal sheltering programmes — are the most effective
ways to reduce stray animal populations and, therefore, reduce the threat of rabies.
“Ethiopia might be preparing to mark the third millennium, but this massive dog-poisoning plan is something right out of the Dark Ages”, says PETA President Ingrid E Newkirk. “We urge Mayor Deressa to call off this cruel massacre and accept our assistance to establish an effective dog-population and rabies-control programme that will benefit both the animals and the city’s residents.”
PETA’s letter to Addis Ababa Mayor Ato Berhanu Deressa is available upon request.
For more information, please visit PETA’s website HelpingAnimals.com
Kinijit supporters from several cities in the United States are on their way to Washington DC to welcome Kinijit
Vice President Bertukan Mideksa and her delegation when they arrive Sunday morning.
One of those who is heading to DC is Ato Cheru Terefe, leading the Atlanta Kinijit chapter supporters. Ethiopian Review has reached him on the phone this morning as he and his colleagues were driving through North Carolina on I-85. Ato Cheru and friends are traveling to DC all the way from Atlanta to say thank you to the Kinijit leaders for the sacrifices they made to help bring a positive change in Ethiopia.
Ato Ashebir and friends from Boston’s Abugida TV and Kinijit Chapter are also on the way to Washington DC. They are excited to meet and welcome Wzt. Bertukan and her heroic friends at the Dulles Airport in Washington DC on Sunday morning.
Ato Tamagne Beyene, one of the coordinators of the welcoming ceremony told Ethiopian Review today that the Kinijit leaders will be greeted by hundreds, may be thousands of Ethiopians at the airport. As the legitimately elected leaders of Ethiopia, Wzt. Bertukan and her delegation will be treated and welcomed with all the ceremony and protocol that are accorded to national leaders.
The coordinating team will provide transportation to those who do not want to drive to the airport. Those who wish to volunteer or get a ride are asked to call Berhan at 202 299 7625.
Secretary general of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit), Ato Muluneh Eyoel, gave a press conference to Ethiopian Review, Ethiopian Media Forum, Addis Dimts Radio and Netsenet LeEthiopia Radio yesterday. During the 1-hour press conference, Ato Muluneh discussed the scheduled working visits by Kinijit high-level delegations to the United States and other countries.
Ato Muluneh said that the delegates who are travelling to the U.S., Europe, Australia and South Africa have all obtained their visas. Ato Muluneh himself will lead a delegation to Europe, while vice president Bertukan Mideksa will arrive in Washington DC on Sunday [see poster] leading a delegation of five.
Originally, the delegation to the U.S. was to be headed by Kinijit president Ato Hailu Shawel, but this week he informed the executive committee that he will not make the trip due to poor health. Instead, Ato Hailu will travel to Germany on Friday to get medical treatment, according to Shaleqa Getachew Mengiste who will depart for South Africa on Monday.
A Kinijit splinter group led by Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew has issued a false statement saying that the reason Ato Hailu is not coming to the U.S. is because the embassy refused to give him a visa. The American Ambassador in Addis Ababa, Donald Yamamoto, denied that today saying that Ato Hailu’s visa is ready. The shaleqa group also warned that if Ato Hailu cannot travel to the U.S., the other leaders should also not come. The question is, who empowered these crooks to warn or order around the Kinijit executive committee?
There is a lot to criticize about the American embassy in Addis Ababa, such as its see-no-evil-hear-no-evil attititude toward the Woyanne regime. But making false accusations against the embassy is harmful to Kinijit’s own credibility. Here it must be made clear that no Kinijit official has accused the American embassy of denying visa to Ato Hailu, including Ato Hailu himself. The false accusation and misinformation have been coming from the shaleqa group, which is not a surprise. The shaleqa and his rogue group are leaving no stone unturned to block the Kinijit delegation’s visit to the United States. They have a reason for doing that — one of the delegation’s primary objectives in coming to the U.S. is to investigate the alleged corruption by the shaleqa and take appropriate measures.
It is not a secret that Ato Hailu has changed his mind about coming to the United States after being pressured by Shaleqa Yoseph and Dr Taye Woldesemayat. Although the Kinijit executive committee has requested both individuals to cease and desist from acting on behalf on Kinijit, they have refused to do so, and this week they have organized a fund rasing event in Washington DC in the party’s name. This is in clear defiance of the executive committee’s order.
Shaleqa Yoseph, who has cleverly befriended Ato Hailu Shawel and developed very close family ties, is counting on that friendship to save him from being investigated. To help him with his strategy of creating diversions in a desperate attempt to cover up his corruption, he has also brought to his side some of the most implacable opponents of Kinijit. This unholly alliance include Dr Taye (who had proudly declared that he didn’t vote for Kinijit), the EPRP crew (who consider Kinijit more of a threat to their discredited party than Woyanne), Woyanne web sites, and a former abiyot tebaqi who has been spewing anti-Kinijit diatribes on his radio program for the past two years. The shaleqa’s fund raising event this weekend and his other activities are being promoted by… guess who? EPRP and Woyanne media outlets, such as Aiga Forum, EthioLion, Debteraw, Assimba… Just check their web sites. These are the forces that are currently aligned with Shaleqa against Kinijit as a party and its executive committee.
The shaleqa had also sent a stern message to Ato Hailu Shawel recently saying that “betraying” him will have a grave consequence. This warning (blackmail?) was posted on Aiga Forum. So Ato Hailu could be in a quandary, and it is understandable he decided not to come to the U.S. As a matter of fact, it is a good thing that he is not coming, since the delegation will now be led by Wzt. Bertukan Mideksa, a highly respected former judge who can do a better job of conducting a thorough investigation into the shaleqa’s corruption.
A note to Ato Hailu Shawel:
We admire you to no end for your contribution to the anti-Woyanne struggle. It is also an admirable quality to be loyal to your friends. But Kinijit is a political party that promotes honesty, transparency and accountability. You are presented with a mountain of evidence about the corruption of your friends Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew, Ato Moges Brook and others. Ignoring all these evidences, if you try to cover up or put under the rug their crimes, you would be undermining the party you helped build and the pro-democracy struggle you helped lead this far. If your friendship with the shaleqa group would not allow you to conduct an investigation, then recuse yourself from the investigation. But please do not take part in a cover up. We are confident that you will not betray Kinijit, yourself and, most important of all, the people of Ethiopia, in order to cover up for and protect a gang of crooks who have brought shame and dishonor to the party while you and your colleagues were languishing in Woyanne jail. We trust you not to repeat Lidetu Ayalew’s mistake.
(eitb24) – Police officials could not be reached for comment and repeated calls to other government officials went unanswered. Ethiopian law provides that any one arrested should appear in court within 48 hours and be charged.
Ethiopia the Woyanne regime has detained 107 of its citizens over the past two months without charge, according to an opposition lawmaker who said he believed the detainees were suspected of links to a southern insurgency.
Opposition lawmaker Bulcha Demeksa said Wednesday he had compiled the figure of those detained since July in Addis Ababa and southern Ethiopia from reports from family members.
Ethiopian law provides that any one arrested should appear in court within 48 hours and be charged.
Federal police officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday and repeated calls to other government officials went unanswered.
Bulcha said his total of 107 included three staff members of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council in Nekemte, 220 kilometers (137 miles) west of the capital, that the council said were arrested on Aug. 23 and had not been taken to court since.
Hiwot Emishaw, an official of the group, said, “They were allegedly arrested for disseminating papers to incite violence. Our organization is saying they have not been engaged in such an act.”
Bulcha told The Associated Press he suspected the detainees have been held on suspicion of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front, which has been fighting for greater autonomy in southern Ethiopia. One of the detainees, he said, was a 63-year-old man.
The Oromo make up a third of Ethiopia’s 77 million people, and have been the center of dissent against the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front.
Bulcha, whose Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement party is a minority in parliament, said that he had complained to government officials, but has not received any response.
The Somali State Regional government said Wednesday that an aid agency’s observations about human rights violations in eastern Ethiopia were “distorted.”
On Tuesday, officials of Doctors Without Borders said they had seen Ethiopian soldiers chase women and children from wells in the desert and block civilians from getting medical care in the Ogaden region, where a rebellion is brewing.
“These distorted and unrealistic reports are certainly in violation of the code of ethics they are committed to in their line of duty as neutral bodies,” the regional state government said in a statement posted on the Foreign Affairs Ministry Web site.
